We continued research on the molecular mechanism of meiotic recombination in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, with a focus on three aspects of this complex biological process. We examined the initiation event in meiotic recombination, double-strand DNA break formation, with the aim of identifying the enzyme(s) responsible for break formation, their substrate requirements, and the factors that control the location and frequency of breaks. We initiated studies aimed at isolating and characterizing intermediates in meiotic recombination. We also studied the relationship between recombination and chromosome pairing and recombination events that occur during meiosis.